(FiveNation.com)- Police arrested a man outside the official residence of Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday.
The man from Texas was arrested by Washington Metropolitan Police outside the US Naval Observatory. He’s facing charges of ammunition and weapons possession.
A spokesperson for the police department said officers responded “at approximately 12:12 p.m., to the 3400 block of Massachusetts Avenue, NW in reference to a suspicious person based on an intelligence bulletin that originated from Texas, who was detained by US Secret Service.”
A region-wide intelligence bulletin was issued for the suspect. That led to law enforcement coming into contact with the man.
Police in DC say the officers who made contact with Paul Murray eventually arrested him. From his vehicle, the recovered ammunition and a rifle. Murray is 31 years old and from San Antonio.
According to the US Secret Service, officers with the Uniformed Division detained Murray before Metropolitan Police arrived to arrest him. Secret Service also said that neither Harris nor any of their “protectees” were at the US Naval Observatory when the incident occurred.
Murray is being charged with carrying a rifle or shotgun outside of a business, carrying a dangerous weapon, possession of a large capacity ammunition feeding device, and possession of unregistered ammunition.
Fox5 in D.C. reported that investigators haven’t indicated what Murray was doing outside the Naval Observatory. They did say that he told members of the Secret Service that he wanted to speak with the president.
Fox5 also obtained internal police bulletins that said Murray was experiencing paranoid delusions. Murray potentially thought the government was after him for one reason or another.
He recently purchased an AR-15 gun and even told his mother he was going to Washington, D.C., to “take care of his problem.”
Murray was medically discharged from the Army in 2014. He started serving in 2010 as a drone operator, according to authorities. He also recently complained to police that Veteran’s Affairs wasn’t giving him enough support, and he also wasn’t taken medication that was prescribed to him.
Harris hasn’t been living in the Naval Observatory just yet because some repairs are needed to the home. The home, which is located just northwest of Washington, D.C., is traditionally used as the house for vice presidents.
In January when making that announcement, an aide to Harris said having the vice president not move in immediately would “allow for repairs to the home that are more easily conducted with the home unoccupied.”
After former Vice President Mike Pence and his family moved out of the home, the chimney liner needed to be replaced as well as other routine maintenance performed.
In the meantime, it’s not exactly clear where Harris is living. She does own a home in Washington, D.C., though, so that’s her most likely destination for now.
Violence and threats of violence have been keeping politicians on edge in the nation’s capital since the attacks on the Capitol building on January 6. In addition to security fencing and other security measures at the Capitol itself, intelligence efforts have been amped up for threats of potential future violence in and around Washington, D.C.
